The present invention relates to radio frequency (RF) power dividers/combiners, and particularly to a novel switchable power divider/combiner.
Power dividers are known to be functional for dividing a single RF signal into multiple RF signals or, reciprocally, for combining a plurality of phase-coherent RF signals into a single output RF signal. Such known power dividers/combiners are arranged with a fixed number of input/output ports and are designed to accommodate the fixed number of input/output ports.
Single-pole, N-throw RF switches are also known, for connecting a single common port to one of N output ports. Such switches usually connect only a single output port to the input port at any time, other than for brief intervals during switching.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an arrangement for a switchable RF signal divider/combiner which has impedance matched inputs and outputs. It is a further object of the invention to provide systems, such as RF power amplifiers, using one or more power combiners/dividers in accordance with the invention.